May 15 , 2000 Collateral Damage BY JOHN PILGER Ten years of sanctions in Iraq Under Siege BY ANTHONY ARNOVE Hans von Sponeck steps down The IMF: Kill It or Fix It? BY G. PASCAL ZACHARY How to Fix the IMF BY DAVID MOBERG First, do no harm Water Fallout BY JIM SHULTZ Bolivians battle globalization ICANN: Secret government of the Internet? BY STEVEN HILL The fight over who will control the Web The Big Payback BY SALIM MUWAKKIL African-Americans renew the call for reparations News & Views Editorial BY JASON VEST Capital crimes Appall-O-Meter BY DAVID FUTRELLE A Terry Laban Cartoon No Justice for Janitors BY DAVID BACON L.A. workers take the first step toward a nationwide strike Wal-Martyrs BY KARI LYDERSEN Unionizing means job cuts at the world's largest retailer Fishy Business BY JEFF SHAW Washington State is failing to protect endangered salmon Wasted BY JEFF ST. CLAIR Russia moves ahead with shady nuclear scheme Profile BY DAVID MOBERG Luis Alfonso Velasquez: Wanted man Culture The Culture Vultures BY LAURA BRAHM BOOKS: Art as instrument of foreign policy Left in the Dust BY TED KLEINE BOOKS: A HIstory of the Small & the Invisible Queer Godfather BY DOUG IRELAND BOOKS: Martin Duberman, intellectual No Jacket Required BY JOSHUA ROTHKOPF FILM: American Psycho Rememberance of Things Trashed BY CALEB MASON

The Big Payback African-Americans renew the call for reparations   Credit: Terry LaBan By Salim Muwakkil Aetna, the largest life and health insurer in the nation, helped build the foundation of its current prosperity by insuring slaveowners' human chattel. So discovered Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, a 34-year-old New York attorney whose research has revealed a number of unsavory corporate links to slavery. When she informed Aetna about her research, officials initially acknowledged the company's role, apologized and hinted it might offer some form of restitution. "We express our deep regret over any participation at all in this deplorable practice [of insuring slaves]," Aetna spokesman Fred Laberge told Reuters. "We want to make clear that we take this matter very seriously, and we are actively engaged in determining what actions might be taken." But after mulling over that statement and the monumental implications of such an acknowledgment, Aetna quickly changed its tune: "We have concluded that, beyond our apology, no further actions are required." Farmer-Paellmann says that's not good enough. "Aetna has a moral obligation to apologize and share that unjust enrichment with the Africans they helped maintain in slavery," she insists. Salim Muwakkil is a senior editor of In These Times.   TOP HOME SUBSCRIBE MAIL   In These Times © 2000 Vol. 24, No. 12